I beg to move:—
"That in view of the importance of developing the Water Power of Saorstát Eireann the Seanad requests the Government to establish a Board of Control to provide for the development of Water Power and the improvement of Navigation."
"The first duty of this Board would be to establish a Hydrometric Survey charged with the following duties:—
i. (a) A detailed field examination of the rivers of Saorstát Eireann, in order to locate possible power sites.
(b) A survey of these sites in sufficient detail to give all data necessary for estimates of the cost of development.
(c) Publications of the results of these Surveys.
ii. (a) Establishment and maintenance of permanent discharge gauging stations on all important rivers.
(b) A detailed study, by means of discharge gauging stations, and sufficient and properly located rain-gauge stations, of the relation between rainfall and runoff on selected catchment areas of different types.
(c) Establishment and maintenance of new rain-gauge stations, especially in the mountainous districts.
(d) Annual publication of all gaugings and occasional publication of special investigations.
iii. The study of flooding and drainage problems.
The Board should also be authorised and empowered:—
(1) "To make investigations, and collect and record data concerning the utilization of water resources of any region to be developed."
(2) "To co-operate with the executive departments and other agencies of State in such investigations; and for such purposes the several departments and agencies of the National Government should be authorised and directed, upon the request of the Board, to furnish such records, papers, and information in their possession as may be necessary in such investigations."
I think it is fortunate that the motion I have to bring forward to-day comes after the one we have just considered, because this tends to remove the difficulty which we have been discussing. The late President Griffith, who spent all his life in the service of this country, had two objects in view and they were always before him. One was the political freedom of Ireland and the other was the economic freedom of Ireland. His political views were always very much coloured by his economic views, as he always believed that there could be no development of Irish industries while the country was dominated by the commercial interests of England. The object of my motion is the development of industries, an object he always had in view. One of the first things he did when he came into power was to establish a commission to inquire into the industries and resources of Ireland in order that he might have something to go on as soon as a Parliament was set up in this country, as he always expected, and so that there might be methods ready to be considered by that Parliament when it assembled and to avoid delay in helping forward the industrial development of Ireland. He wished to help industries which existed, and also to establish others. The object of my motion is to help in the development of these industries. The commission was an unpaid commission and sat for two and a half years, and worked very hard in all parts of Ireland. It issued reports on a number of different subjects—coal and other things. One of the principal things which it reported upon was water power, the subject we are now considering. A good many of the Senators, or some, at all events, and some members of the Dáil were members of that commission and worked very hard at it so that, I am sure, they will welcome an effort to carry that work into effect.
Senators will see that this motion of mine was not a freak action but one that has been very carefully considered for a long time. It was approved by a great many people. I have asked advice from a great number of competent people, including Sir John Griffith and others, and they are all agreed that this is a good thing to do. Nearly all countries have established a hydrometric survey, at least all civilised countries, including America, Switzerland, France and others. They did not do so in England, as they have there a very large supply of coal readily available and also cheap. They did not think it worth while to trouble much about water power in England, and very much less in this country. This Commission, which went into this question, reported that it would be very unwise to venture on any great water power development until the matter had been very thoroughly discussed, examined and investigated, as a great deal of money might be wasted and thrown away in wrong attempts to establish water power where it was unsuitable. If water power were a continuous force, always ready to act, of course it would be rather a simple matter and would probably wipe out nearly all other powers, but it is not so at all. There are a great many difficulties in the way of water power, and the object of this motion is to find what these difficulties are and how they can best be overcome. Until every rain-catchment area of Ireland, every river, has been carefully studied, the amount of rainfall examined and the outflow of water gauged, it cannot economically be used for the development of power. People who have mills require a great deal of knowledge on this matter. They require to know, not only the maximum of power which they could obtain from any engineer who has spent a few hours examining the place, but they want to know the minimum. We all know that rain varies very much from one month to another, from one year to another, from one period of time to another, and all these falls of rain affect very much the amount of power. A river at one time might have 10,000 horse power available; at another it might not have 1,000, and before the manufacturer spends money in putting up plant he needs to know exactly the minimum that he can depend on, because, in any case, he will have to put up stand-by plant to carry out the work when there is a small flow of water.
Observations have been taken all over Ireland at different times, sometimes by engineers employed for the purpose, sometimes because people were interested in the matter, and went out and made reports about it; sometimes private persons put up measures for finding the rainfall, and in various ways like that a good deal of information is at hand stowed in different reports, but by no means full reports. It would require a great many more gauges on various rivers and rainfall gauges before we know exactly how we stand, and we require reports over long periods of time. Another very important matter to consider is the co-ordination of power. Sometimes there are rivers which have a good many affluents with small power. Perhaps none of these affluents is sufficient for any big purpose, but by hydrometric means these could be brought together and used. If certain independent private companies obtained possession of these water-powers it might be very difficult to buy them out. They might not be able to use them very much themselves, but they might hold them and get very big prices. Although the State might have nominal control over them they might not be able to get actual power over them, except at very great cost. What is necessary is that Irish industrialists who want to establish industries should know exactly what power is available in different parts of the country. They must have reasonable surety that their money will not be wasted. Hitherto they had to depend on the reports of persons who have been sent out for the purpose by private individuals or by companies who wanted to exploit these districts, and these people who reported to them, or the people who were trying to get things established, were very often not anxious to know what the real thing was. They wanted to get big statements so that companies might be formed, and they did not care very much whether these companies failed or not. That has been one of the great difficulties in this country. People have not known exactly where they were and were not willing to spend money on these things. People have talked of the enormous water-power in Ireland. Because they see the Shannon and other rivers flowing down the centre of the country, false statements have been made about the power available. The object of this Motion is to find out exactly where we stand. The United States have quite lately established a hydrometric survey, and I will read you an extract from the first report made. It is from the first annual report of the Federal Power Commission for the fiscal year ended the 30th June, 1921:—
"The approval of the Federal Water Power Act on June 10, 1920, marked the end of the period of discussion and controversy, which, for more than a decade, had waged both in Congress and outside, over a National policy with respect to water power under Federal control. The laws previously governing the administration and disposition of water powers had been passed, the one in 1901 and the other in 1910, at a time when there was little appreciation of the role electric power would play in transportation and industry, or of the safeguards which, in the disposition of this National resource, would be required in the interests of the investor as well as of the public. For many years Federal laws had been wholly unsuited to prevailing conditions. The rights granted were so insecure, and the liabilities imposed so uncertain, that only in occasional instances could water power development, which required Federal authority, be financed; with the result that the development of the inexhaustible water power resources was largely blocked, and recourse was had to steam power, with its consequent use of coal. The flood of applications which have followed the passing of the Act of 1920, and the projects on which, notwithstanding the industrial depression and the uncertain financial situation, construction has already started, under licence issued by the Federal Power Commission, is abundant evidence both to the extent to which former legislation stood in the way of power development, and of the generally satisfactory character of the present legislation."
The same object is in view here, that people might know what power they have available before they make these applications. Of course there are a great many difficulties in face of establishing water power. If it were quite a simple thing it would have been easily done long ago. One of these difficulties is storage in lakes and reservoirs, and there again the establishment of these lakes and reservoirs causes a great many other difficulties, to agriculture by flooding, to navigation and to fishing, and it requires some central authority to decide which is the most important, nationally, of these subjects. Sometimes fisheries may be more important than power, and sometimes navigation may be. Sometimes the difficulties caused by flooding would prevent the setting up of power stations, because they would do more harm than good. There must be some central administration to decide which is the less, and the less should give way to the greater.
Another point I wish to refer to is the cost. The cost of setting up a hydrometric survey is an important matter, and it depends very much on whether we are going to rush into this business and set up a full-grown Board straight away, or whether we are to begin by degrees with a few engineers and develop gradually as we proceed.
Personally, I think it is much better to begin in a small way. I have a statement here with regard to the numbers of persons and the expense involved. It is made up by Prof. Walsh, of Cork, who had almost the entire drawing-up of the Water Power report which was sent out
He says:—
"The work of the Hydrometric Dept. might develop gradually, requiring a small staff at first, and a larger staff later; or it might start on a large scale with a big staff. For many reasons I think the first alternative the better.
Initially, the staff would consist of a senior and junior engineer at salaries of, say, £800 and £400, respectively, and a clerk. Equipment would consist of a small office, a Ford car, a few surveying instruments, costing about £150 at most, maps, and sundry office fittings. Put the total cost of equipment required, initially, at £500. For the first six months the expenses would be something of this order:—
Salaries (Six months) |
say £700 |
Cost of initial equipment |
say £500 |
Expenses—office rent, travel- ling and maintenance ex- penses, hire of casual labour, etc |
£500 |
Total for first six months |
£1,700 |
During this time the two engineers would examine, together, the most important rivers, in order to locate power sites needing early investigation, and to locate sites for guaging stations. This work could be based on the Water Power Report of the Commission of Enquiry, but would entail travelling over the greater part of the country.
As soon as a number of the most important sites for guaging stations would have been fixed, two more junior engineers would be required to help in the work of installing guages, locating further sites, surveying, etc. Towards the end of the second year the staff would probably consist of:—
per ann. |
|
One chief engineer at |
£800 to £1,000 |
One senior assistant en- gineer at |
£400 to £600 |
Two assistant engi- neers at |
£300 to £400 |
One Draughtsman at |
£300 |
One Typist at |
£200 |
Total for salaries, say |
£2,900 |
General expenses, including office expenses, travelling, hire of casual labour, payment of a limited number of observers, purchase of guages and instruments, printing, etc., would account for |
£3,000 to £4,000 per ann. |
say, to be on the safe side |
£4,000 per ann. |
This would make a total of |
£7,000 per ann. |
Even after some years working the expenses of such a Department need not exceed, at the very outside, £10,000 per ann., but I really think that all that would be needed could be done, and well done for the £7,000 per annum.
Expensive recording guages would be required only on the most important rivers, say 25 to 30 altogether; very simple cheap guages would suffice in most cases.
It must be remembered that observers would not be required to give more than a few minutes daily to the guages, and would be necessarily local workers paid a small amount for this service.
As far as rainfall is concerned, dependance must be placed almost, entirely, upon voluntary observers, who might, in some cases, be supplied with guages at the expense of the Hydrometric Dept.
I think it is inadvisable that the Hydrometric Department should be made a Department of the Geological or any other Department in Ireland. It is essentially an engineer's affair, and engineers ought to be employed if the work is to be properly done, and they ought to be independent to carry out the work as best they can. That, I think, gives a sort of estimate to the Senators to work on. I cannot say that it can be all carried out in this way, but it gives a sort of idea as to the cost. At present, I am told a great many people are going about the country, speculators and others, drawing up plans and trying to get up companies for the sake of starting these things, and perhaps selling them afterwards to other companies with profit to themselves, and with no particular trouble to themselves, and there is no proper Department of the Government to meet this, and to prevent the country being exploited. Therefore, I move that the proposal I put here shall be passed by the Seanad.